Catholic Action -

Behold the fearless haters of Donald Trump. Righteous in their resolve, they’ll do anything to help the world understand how woke they are. Some of them—the few, the proud, the goateed—will go so far as to cuss and swear about it in front of God and everybody.

Each a rock star in his own right, these two bodacious boomers are going where every be-gauged, tattooed, Starbucked, social justice warrior has gone before—to the cliched heights of profanity-laced Trump bashing.

We're greatly encouraged to read the recent interview of Archbishop Viganò, posted at InsideTheVatican.com a few days ago.

As faithful Catholics struggle to effectively confront the crisis in the Church and, with breaking hearts, to keep up with the spoof going on inside the Vatican, Archbishop Viganò emerges as both a ray of hope and voice of sanity.

Viganò has been living in silence—his own words—and yet keeping a shrewd eye on Francis Revolution. The upcoming Amazon Synod, as represented by the gosh-awful Instrumentum Laboris (IL), garnered a special rebuke from the Archbishop.

School may be out for the summer, but the lingering pall of the standardized test hangs over playgrounds, summer camps and amusement parks like a rainy day at a picnic.

Recently, celebrities were caught bribing and swindling the college admissions system to get their prodigy accepted into top universities. Since then an illuminating light has been focused upon the collegiate admissions process and in this particular case, the illustrious SAT exam.

Interested to know more about the event which invited The Remnant’s Editor halfway around the world?

The symposium was the result of many meetings between a French “legitimist” Catholic and a Japanese priest who is back in his native country heading up the first traditional Catholic mission there since St. Francis Xavier’s in 1549.

It has recently been reported that after current supplies run out, Vatican City State will no longer be selling any single-use plastic items.

This on the heels of the European Union pledging in May to ban all single-use plastic come 2021. Rafael Ignacio Tornini, head of the department handling Vatican City State's gardens and waste collection, now states that single-use plastics will no longer be sold.

In keeping with the Vatican’s Green Pride streak, most famous of which are the solar powered Paul VI audience hall and the jungle-scape lightshow on St. Peter’s, they’ve now entered the race to match the EU’s 70-75 percent recycling standard.

In an apparent case of weaponizing the clerical sex abuse scandal, Church Militant posted an article yesterday suggesting that the "renegade" Society of Saint Pius X is well on its way to becoming a safe haven for clerical sexual predators fleeing the long arm of the Novus Ordo.

As the following response makes abundantly clear, the SSPX does not need us to defend them against this scurrilous charge -- a charge which, by the way, plays nicely into the hands of Christophobic outfits such as the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) which has long been on a witch hunt against all traditionalists, including the SSPX.

If the largest fraternity of traditionalist priests in the world can be successfully smeared by CM as a hotbed of sexual predators, well obviously the SPLC’s job is done here.

By the way, as Editor of The Remnant I regret to say that the author of the Church Militant hit piece, James Baresel, has occasionally appeared in these pages as a guest columnist. It goes without saying that unless and until Mr. Baresel publicly apologizes for this broad-brush calumny leveled against the SSPX, his byline will never again appear in The Remnant. MJM

On July 23, 2019, Church Militant published an article entitled "Is the SSPX Sheltering a Sexual Predator?" by James Baresel. This misleading and slanderous report deserves clarification. Both charity and justice should be hallmarks of any Catholic.

History

The main accusation centers around Fr. James McLucas, a diocesan priest who occasionally helps the Society of Saint Pius X. While not a member of the SSPX, Fr. McLucas was named in the August 2018 Pennsylvania grand jury report. Even though the information in the report was inaccurate, it has not stopped secular and Catholic outfits from labeling him a "sexual predator." (For more on the broader question, please see: https://catholicherald.co.uk/magazine/the-trouble-with-lists-of-credibly-accused-priests/) As no civil or canonical proceedings have ever found Fr. McLucas guilty, nor has he ever been charged with any crime, these accusations are profoundly defamatory.

Fr. McLucas’ lawyer issued the following statement in 2018 when the recent accusations were first made:

While Father McLucas was not charged with any crime, the shocking and horrible accusations in the report - without published evidence, without trial, and without due process of law - will nevertheless blacken his reputation and destroy him in his profession.

Context

Less than two weeks ago, Church Militant, quoting Pope Francis, used similar terms to defend Father Perrone against the Archdiocese of Detroit:

In both situations, Church Militant assumes the place of a judge that only civil or religious authorities are entitled to.

Furthermore, Church Militant displays a double standard. Fr. Perrone and Fr. McLucas are both accused. Church Militant defends the one and attacks the other. They play the advocate for Fr. Perrone and the prosecutor for Fr. McLucas. The same principles they enunciate and hold sacred to defend Fr. Perrone, they trample on when it comes to Fr. McLucas.

SSPX Response?

Speaking of Church Militant’s methodology, we must draw attention to this sentence: "SSPX priest Nicholas Stamos informed me by phone on July 18 that McLucas is still participating in the organization's work."

Fr. Nicholas Stamos wishes to make clear: he has never heard of, nor spoken to, the author of this article. He had one call from earlier in the summer, who apparently falsely said he was an old friend of Fr. McLucas, and that he wished to get in contact. Fr. Stamos directed him to a priory that Fr. McLucas sometimes visits. Neither Fr. Stamos nor anyone at the latter priory ever heard from Church Militant. Is this Catholic journalism?

Protection of All

The Society of Saint Pius X is committed to protecting all minors and vulnerable adults and to cooperate fully with civil and ecclesiastical authorities. In addition, we committed to both helping victims as well as those that are accused. We do not unduly assume the role of judge and leave any investigation to the proper authorities.

From our internal policy on these matters:

Our commitment includes the protection of children (i.e. minors), and vulnerable adults from harm, and the protection of workers from false allegations...We provide individual care and counsel both for the abuse victim and his/her family...The accused is to be treated with dignity and respect. Clergy will seek opportunity to provide individual care and counsel both for the accused and his/her family until the investigation is completed.

Why the SSPX Exists

We stress that the Society of St. Pius X was founded by Archbishop Lefebvre to form and help Catholic priests. As our Statutes state, the central charism of the SSPX is the Catholic priesthood:

[The Society’s activities] include all the works necessary for the formation of priests and whatever pertains thereto, whether the candidates be destined to be members of the Society or not…

The second purpose of the Society is to assist priests in their sanctification by providing them with opportunities for retreats and recollections. The Society’s houses could be headquarters for priestly associations, for third orders, for periodicals and magazines dedicated to the sanctification of priests…

The Society will willingly come to the assistance of aged, infirm, and even unfaithful priests.

Faithful to her mission, rather than condemning and casting the first stone, the Society comes to the help of priests to restore their priesthood and sanctify themselves.

Conclusion

To Church Militant: we ask you retract this scandalous article. It is easy to contact us. If you are more concerned with the truth than clicks, you can still make reparation. We simply ask that you apply the same principles to your article about Fr. McLucas that you do to your articles about Fr. Perrone. In the meantime, for your readers--whatever they think of the SSPX--we hope this clarification shows which side maintains journalistic integrity, and more importantly, Catholic charity and justice.

The Family Research Council recently blew the whistle on a frightening new campaign promoted by the SPLC.

“Through its Teaching Tolerance campaign, the SPLC is dead set on putting a pro-LGBT, anti-biblical curriculum in every single K-12 public school in America. This effort seeks to ostracize parental organizations as "hate groups" if they dare object. [Parents in Minnesota have already been sued for attempting to halt this campaign.]

The campaign includes a toolkit for ‘gender spectrum’ and encourages teachers in public school to host ‘gender neutral day’ which encourages students to cross-dress ... as early as third grade. [Over 60 genders—each with their own pronoun!—are covered, though how that’s possible to even conceptionalize is beyond the limits of my imagination.]

In addition, the SPLC's campaign also includes a savvy ‘Best Practices’ handbook that helps teachers and administrators create an LGBT-inclusive school climate.

It instructs leaders to ‘use gender inclusive language’ and attend events with same-sex dates. This so-called ‘inclusive’ curriculum seeks to stigmatize those of us who exclude our children because of our Christian faith.”

___________

REMNANT COMMENT: It doesn’t stop with school children, although these are our gravest concern. The SPLC has further initiatives set to target colleges and the media with its gender-confused rot.

If they make LGBT activists out of 11-year-olds, then I hope they’ll also make activists out of what’s left of Christian America—God fearing men, women, and parents unafraid to speak out against this outrageous campaign to make our children as sexually confused and preoccupied with their private parts as the folks at the SPLC apparently are.

I remember when kids were preoccupied with baseball, ice cream and playing house. I remember a society that protected its little ones and took steps to preserve the innocence of childhood.

And now this:

We evidently want our kids to be a sick as we are. Why? Because the innocence of a child reminds us of God and everything true, good and beautiful He created. And we hate those reminders of the what we once were, now that we've burned it all on the sacrificial altar to the unholy trinity of Me, Myself and I.

Cardinal Müller adds his critique to the growing number of clerical voices cautioning against the Sham-is-on Synod, citing some of its lines as “scandalous” and “thoughtless” “false teachings”.

Cardinal Gerhard Müller, former prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, has presented an analysis of the Instrumentum Laboris (the working document) of the Amazon Synod. Among his objections and criticisms are the following:

“[The drafting committee] includes a disproportionately large number of mostly German-speaking Europeans. This group is immune to serious objections.”

On Monday Pope Francis appointed 23 new members of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, which is one of nine congregations within the Roman Curia. Among his appointees are six women religious superior generals and one head of a women’s secular institute.